1 66 THE LAND'S END 



he said, " You are right, and I deserved it. I know 

 it is a great fault in me, but 1 assure you that when I 

 use bad words in conversation I mean no more harm 

 than what shall I say ? than a woman when she 

 says, ' Oh, bother it ! ' or c Drat the thing ! ' because 

 she can't fasten her blouse or her belt. 'Pon my soul 

 I don't ! It's just a way I've got into, and the words 

 you didn't like slip out without my knowing it." 

 And so on, with much more in the same apologetic 

 strain. After that there was peace between us. I was 

 indeed rather sorry to lose him at Exeter : as a 

 " funny man," without a sense of humour, he had 

 greatly entertained me, and wishing him well, I 

 hoped he would continue in his mistake about a 

 "limited vocabulary" in the sense in which he had 

 taken the phrase. 



My friend the vicar, who made the mistake of 

 saying it was a hundred years since he had seen some 

 one, told me one day that he had been attending a 

 meeting of the clergy of the district, and finding 

 himself in conversation with three friends who were 

 all Cornishmen of good old local families, it occurred 

 to him that it was a good opportunity to find out 

 what educated men in the county would have to say 

 on such a subject. The question, Did the Cornish 

 people have a sense of humour ? took them by sur- 

 prise ; they had never considered it it had never 

 come before them until that moment. After some 

 discussion it was decided in the affirmative ; the 

 Cornish have a sense of humour, but a very im- 

 portant but it is not the same as the sense of 



